Skills

Skills are reusable workflow prompts. They do not add tools and do not bypass approvals. They tell the agent how to handle a type of task.

If the rule belongs to the project, use AGENTS.md. If it is a personal long-term preference, use memory. If the agent needs a real external tool, use MCP.

When to use Skills

Need	Use
Always list review risks first	Skill
Read tests before editing	Skill
Current task needs a fixed output shape	Skill
Save project rules	AGENTS.md
Save personal preferences	Memory
Connect external tools	MCP

Location

Local Skills live under:

<workspace>/.neocode/skills/
~/.neocode/skills/

If ~/.neocode/skills/ does not exist, NeoCode falls back to ~/.codex/skills/.

Recommended layout:

<workspace>/.neocode/skills/go-review/SKILL.md
~/.neocode/skills/go-review/SKILL.md

Example Skill

---
id: go-review
name: Go Review
description: Review Go changes for correctness, boundaries, and tests.
---

# Go Review

## Instruction

Read related implementation and tests before reviewing. Prioritize regressions, error handling, edge cases, and missing tests. List risks first, then give a short summary.

Enable and disable

/skills
/skill use go-review
/skill active
/skill off go-review

/skill use <id> affects the current session only.

Writing good instructions

Weak:

## Instruction

Review more carefully.

Better:

## Instruction

Read related implementation and tests first. Output high-risk findings, then test gaps, then a short summary. Do not request unrelated refactors.

Common issues

/skills cannot see my Skill

Check:

• It is under ~/.neocode/skills/
• The file name is SKILL.md
• Frontmatter is valid YAML
• id is not duplicated

Can a Skill grant tool access?

No. File writes and commands still follow normal approval flow.

Next steps

• Unsure what to use: Capability Guide
• External tools: MCP Tools
• Project rules: AGENTS.md Project Rules